What keeps the earth from freezing?

Answer 1

the salt in the water breaks up the crystalsrequired to make the ocean t freeze

Another answer:

Oceans freeze, but at a lower temperature than pure water, because of the mineral content of ocean water. The freezing point of ocean water may be 27 or 28 degrees F., depending on the mineral content.

The Antarctic continent, for example, practically doubles in size during the austral winter, based in the oceans that surround the continent freezing. The polar ice cap in the northern hemisphere is composed totally of frozen sea water.

Answer 2

Lakes do not freeze sold from top to bottom because water molecules in ice are less densely packed than when they are in liquid form. As ice is less dense than water, it floats on liquid water.

In a lake, the surface water will be cooled by the air above it. As the water is cooled below 4 deg C, the water molecules start to:

1. become packed in a less dense way

2. water starts expanding (this is called anomalous expansion)

3. the ice then floats

The deeper water is unaffected as further cooling produces more ice. The floating ice layer prevents the water below from freezing and allows the rest of the lake to remain liquid.

Normally, when liquids change to solids, molecules become more densily packed. Water is different but it is was not, ice would not float and would become denser; it would sink. Imagine what would happen:

- the water on the surface would freeze

- the molecules of the solid configuration of a substance are usually more densily packed which means the solid ice would sink to the bottom of the lake

- then more water would be exposed to the cold air at the top of the lake;

- this would freeze and sink to the bottom

- this process would continue until the entire lake was frozen, killing most water life.

Answer 3

Earth has a blanket of atmosphere around it which stores the heat from the sun and protects it from freezing during nights.

Answer 4

hydrogen bonding is unable to freeze an entire body of water